1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to anti-sway trailer attachments and more particularly pertains to a rotary trailer sway dampener which may be utilized for preventing a trailer from swaying back and forth during towing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of anti-sway trailer attachments is known in the prior art. More specifically, anti-sway trailer attachments heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of preventing a trailer in tow from swaying back and forth are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,337 describes an anti-sway trailer attachment which may be utilized to couple a trailer to a towing vehicle in a manner such that slight lateral left and right movements of the forward end of the towing vehicle will not be transferred into lateral left and right movements, respectively, of the trailer.
Another anti-sway trailer attachment can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,885 which illustrates a friction sway control apparatus for trailers that includes a bar and friction brake arrangement to minimize or eliminate the tendency of a trailer to sway.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,676 describes an anti-sway trailer attachment that utilizes a cable arranged in a serpentine path over a plurality of pulleys to provide for frictional dampening of the cable movement as a result of the respective trailer movement.
The anti-sway trailer attachments mentioned heretofore utilize either an expendable friction braking arrangement or a spring and push-rod arrangement. The expendable friction braking anti-sway devices provide a constant dampening force that counteracts the swaying of a trailer but does not allow the trailer to return to a substantially centered equilibrium position. Furthermore, the expendable friction braking anti-sway devices will eventually wear away the braking material which must then be replaced. The spring and push rod arrangement provides a counteracting force to the movement of the front end of the towing vehicle but does not provide dampening to the oscillations encountered by the trailer.
In this respect, the rotary trailer sway dampener according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art anti-sway trailer attachments, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed to provide a variable amount of dampening for preventing a trailer from swaying back and forth during towing and also the dampening any oscillations encountered by the trailer.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new rotary trailer sway dampener which utilizes a planetary gear system to spin agitators in an oil bath for dampening oscillations encountered by a trailer. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.